For Boz Scaggs, a live show encapsulates the variety of music that the singer/songwriter/guitarist has performed over his 45-year career.

"In general, the majority of the (live) music is stuff that I've worked with in the past — songs that people have heard on the radio, CDs, records or 8-tracks over the course of time," he said. "There will be some hits and a smattering of bluesy things that are my first love. And I'll play some material from the new 'Memphis' album.

"People will hear songs that they are familiar with and probably will hear things they haven't heard before. It's a variety of styles: blues, pop, R&B, rock 'n' roll."

Scaggs will bring those styles to Binghamton University's Anderson Center for the Performing Arts for a concert at 8 p.m. Tuesday. The 70-year-old is now in the middle of a tour that will take him across North America through October.

Part of the joy of performing live is that "every show is different and every audience is different," Scaggs said.

"When we get onstage, we have a sixth sense of which way the audience is leaning," he said. "We can sometimes redirect ourselves and 'call audibles.' Something can work one night and be a standout in one city and then not be a big hit during the next show. That's one of the things that makes (touring) so interesting."

William Royce Scaggs first drew the attention of U.S. music fans when he joined the Steve Miller Band in 1967. Two years later, Scaggs embarked on a solo career that saw him release a series of critically praised albums, including "Moments" in 1971 and "Slow Dancer" in 1974.

Superstardom arrived in 1976 with the release of "Silk Degrees," a blue-eyed soul masterpiece that Scaggs recorded with musicians who would later form the band Toto. The album sold 5 million copies and featured hits such as "Lowdown," "Lido Shuffle," "It's Over" and "We're All Alone." The hits continued into the early 1980s with "Breakdown Dead Ahead," "Miss Sun," "Jojo" and "Look What You've Done to Me" (from the "Urban Cowboy" soundtrack).

The past 20 years have seen Scaggs delve into blues, jazz, standards and tour with Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan as The Dukes of September. In March 2013, Scaggs released his most successful album in more than 30 years: a collection of mostly R&B covers called "Memphis." Recorded over three days in the city's legendary Royal Studios, "Memphis" features Scaggs performing songs such as Brook Benton's "Rainy Night in Georgia," The Moments' "Love on a Two Way Street," Al Green's "So Good to Be Here" and Mink DeVille's "Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl."

"We chose a handful — eight to 10 — songs that we were sure we wanted to do," Scaggs said. "I do demos of songs to try my voice out, find the key and experiment with them. In the course of choosing the material, I did demos and (producer) Steve Jordan and I went through those. Once we got into the studio and had a couple of songs under our belt, we developed what we were doing and what our palette was — so to speak."

Two other highlights from "Memphis" are songs written by Scaggs: "Gone Baby Gone" and "Sunny Gone." Both perfectly fit the classic R&B sound and theme of the album.

"I had some sketches and ideas," he said of the original music. "I played some things for Steve and he earmarked those two and said: 'I like what I hear. Why don't you finish those?'

"I always try to write more, but I'm not someone who continually writes," he added. "I don't have a backlog of material. I have sketches, but I don't finish things until I'm under pressure to do it. I normally work on deadline!"

Nevertheless, the hits that Scaggs has written — "Lowdown," "Lido Shuffle," "Breakdown Dead Ahead" and others — have stood the test of time and remain popular with audiences at the live shows.

"Audiences typically react to songs that they know," he said. "It's an instant connection. People know where they are when they hear those songs. We use those as touchstones for what we're doing (onstage) and then we venture out from there. Hopefully, we take people with us."